Neologisms from a functional perspective: Correlation between perception and empirical data

Abstract

This research focuses on the function of neologisms and casts serious doubts on the applicability of the traditional dichotomy 'denominative neologisms' and 'stylistic neologisms'. Although this classification is widely mentioned in the literature on neology, both from a theoretical and applied perspective it shows some limitations that call into question that they really work as opposing categories (Llopart-Saumell, 2016). The starting point of this study is a linguistic survey based on the perception of the speakers: participants were asked to classify a set of neologisms in Catalan (in context) in denominative, stylistic or with both values (denominative and stylistic). Then, we study the degree of coincidence of the results obtained and, finally, we contrast them with sociolinguistic (frequency and stability of use), discursive (context and discursive position) and linguistic data (morpho-semantic) of each of the neologisms. The results point out that those neologisms considered stylistic have a higher degree of coincidence than those considered denominative, because they share some features, especially linguistic and discursive, that seem to make them easier to be identified as such. In this sense, those neologisms classified as denominative show a lower degree of coincidence and the number of units classified with both values increases. Regarding the different aspects contrasted with the results, we can observe that the different criteria do no not work autonomously, but they complement each other.